


The Man Who Can't Be Moved

by treez_r_green



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Based on a song, Getting Back Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-27
Updated: 2015-08-27
Packaged: 2018-04-17 12:37:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4666785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/treez_r_green/pseuds/treez_r_green
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik has always been dramatic and Charles has always known this. He just didn't think he'd camp out on a street corner for two weeks just to get Charles back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Man Who Can't Be Moved

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this ages ago but then I never posted it because right as I was going to someone else posted another Cherik fic based on the exact same song- what are the chances! Anyway, I just remembered that I wrote it and figured I'd post it anyway. Any similarities to that other fic are purely coincidental. Based on The Script's Man Who Can't Be Moved.

“Charles, Charles! Are you watching the news?”

“News? Raven, what are you talking about, it’s 8am on a Saturday!” Charles grumbles into his phone, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and leaning across the empty side of the bed to turn the light on.

“Damnit Charles, you’re missing the report! Hang on, I’m sending you the video clip, it’s all over YouTube, check your email, I really think you’re going to want to see this.”

“Raven, what the...” but it’s too late, his sister has already hung up the phone.

He has no idea what she’s going on about but if it’s got Raven so animated on a Saturday morning then it’s probably important. Thinking that he’ll indulge her madness just this once, he goes into the kitchen to put the kettle on for his tea and fetches his laptop from the living room coffee table. He makes his tea while his laptop is booting up then settles down on the sofa to see what this video is that’s got Raven making such a fuss.

His first thought is that it’s just another homeless person but then he realises that the man is holding a sign with a picture of someone, no a picture of _Charles_ on it. Then he realises, that the man hidden underneath a week’s worth of stubble and messy hair shoved under a beanie is Erik, _his_ Erik. The same Erik he threw out three weeks ago after the fight that broke the camel’s back. Funny that it made him so furious at the time but he can’t even remember what started it now. He zones back in to the news report to hear that Erik’s been sitting out on the street for nearly two weeks now, refusing to move on and not accepting any kind of help from people mistaking him as a beggar. There’s a perfect little sound bite of Erik saying he’s not broke, just broken-hearted, which is such a perfectly typical, melodramatic, _Erik_ thing to say, that Charles almost stops breathing from how overwhelmed he is by the sudden memories.

For three weeks he’s only let himself remember the bad stuff; the constant arguments, how Erik never wanted to go out with Charles’ friends, how he’d blow every tiny misunderstanding totally out of proportion.  Watching Erik now, he sees a man who has been sleeping out on the street for two weeks; just on the off-chance Charles might see him and give him a second chance. He sees a man who is desperate to fight for the person he loves and Charles starts to remember all the good stuff too. He remembers how thrilling it was to argue with Erik, how he loved having someone to challenge his ideals. He remembers how loyal Erik is, how he wasn’t afraid to stand up for Charles when his friends were being idiots. He remembers how much he loved nights in with Erik, playing chess and debating philosophy or just curling up in Erik’s arms in front of the TV. Suddenly he misses Erik with such intensity that he _aches_ with it and he realises how stupid he’s been. In retrospect, he probably should have been a little suspicious that Erik seemed to leave so quietly; he’s always been a massive drama queen. Somewhere along the way Charles had forgotten that he always used to find that endearing rather than annoying.

Without even bothering to close his laptop down or get dressed properly, he runs to his bedroom to shove his jeans on and grab his coat and shoes then rushes outside and  jumps in his car, barely remembering to lock the door behind him. He didn’t even watch enough of the report to hear where exactly Erik is but Charles knows there’s only one place he will be. It’s the same place they met for the first time back when Charles was working on his PhD and in need of constant caffeine. Charles smiles at the memory of his younger self spilling scalding coffee on a handsome stranger as he was rounding the corner of the street that housed his favourite coffee shop. There’s a park opposite the street and Erik was enjoying his morning run when Charles ran smack bang into him. They’d been meeting there ever since. Well until three weeks ago when Charles apparently made the stupidest mistake in the history of all his mistakes.

As he approaches the general area Charles has no doubt that he’s in the right place, there’s at least half a dozen camera crews and news vans and a throng of spectators so thick that Charles can’t even get his car through, he ends up having to park three streets down, way over the other side of the park because there are absolutely no spaces. He starts running as soon as he gets out of the car but he has to slow down as he approaches the group of people lining the corner. He starts pushing his way through and people start moving when they realise who it is, recognising him from Erik’s picture. There’s an excited murmur running through the crowd and Charles is getting flustered from all the attention he’s receiving. He’s pretty sure he’s going to be all over the local news later, and he’ll never live it down. He’s determined though, he hasn’t come this far to let a little embarrassment stop him.

He finally pushes his way through to where Erik is giving another interview to a member of the press. He stops half way through his sentence when he sees Charles standing there and just gapes like a fish.

“Charles..?”

“Hey. Um, so, Raven sent me this YouTube clip about this crazy lunatic who set up camp on  a street corner and refused to be moved and I just thought I’d come see what all the fuss is about...”

Erik stands up from where he was sitting, curled up on his sleeping bag, and steps forward to stand in front of Charles.

“Is this...are you..? Oh God, I had this big dramatic speech planned about how you belong by my side and now I just can’t...”

“You? Dramatic, really?” Charles says, sarcastically, but he’s got a grin on his face now as he takes Erik’s hands in his.

“I missed you.” He says, so quietly that he doubts even the almost forgotten cameras behind him could have picked it up.

“Oh God, Charles, I’ll beg you every day I swear if you just give me one more chance...” pleads Erik.

“I don’t need all that, I just need you to tell me one thing.”

“Anything, I swear.”

“Do you love me?”

“Yes! Of course, yes, I never stopped loving you Charles, I swear I will spend every day of my life proving that to you if you just...”

Charles cuts him off by pressing his lips to Erik’s and Erik just melts into the kiss, pulling his hands out of Charles’ grip and wrapping his arms around Charles’ waist instead, tugging him close. Erik doesn’t smell that great, he probably hasn’t brushed his teeth in a few days which is a bit disgusting, Charles thinks, his two week old beard is scratching Charles’ chin and they are still surrounded by cameras but it’s _Erik_ and it’s home, it’s everything Charles had forgotten he’d always wanted. It’s absolutely perfect.


End file.
